Full Breakdown
Swiss President Guy Parmelin’s Himalayan-Inspired Banquet at Rashtrapati Bhavan
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State Visit and Banquet
On October 5, 2026 Swiss Confederation President Guy Parmelin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a luncheon, after which President Droupadi Murmu hosted a formal dinner the following evening at Rashtrapati Bhavan. India Today noted that the banquet honored both President Parmelin and First Lady Caroline Parmelin and was part of a three-day state visit scheduled from October 5 to 7 2026.
Menu Composition
The dinner featured a sequence of dishes drawing on the culinary traditions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. The first course was Za Thuk, a Ladakhi wild nettle soup with winter peas and roasted millet pearls. A cheese-focused salad, Labo-Na Tsonma, combined Ladakhi labo and chhurpi with Jammu’s kalari, dried apple, walnuts, wild capers, sea-buckthorn and honey. Appetisers included Kimb Chaat (boiled taro, sweet potatoes, rice-flour crispies with yoghurt, tamarind and starfruit) and lotus-stem patties (Nadur Kebab with Dooyn Chetin) served with walnut chutney.
The main course highlighted Kashmiri staples: Chaman Qaliya (cottage cheese in milk-turmeric sauce), Haakh (collard greens stewed with mustard oil and asafoetida), Dum Olav (potatoes with yoghurt, dry ginger and fennel), Tsok Wangun (baby eggplant in a clove-ginger-fennel sauce), and Kana Gucch Pulao (pulao with Kashmiri morels and whole spices) accompanied by Mujj Chatni, Sheermal and Katlam breads.
Desserts blended the two regions: Shufta (dates, cashews, raisins, coconut, poppy seeds), Phirin (semolina-milk pudding with saffron, cardamom and dry fruits), and Ladakhi Phaymer (roasted barley, jaggery, butter with Chura cheese), finished with fresh fruit.
Regional Ingredients and Cultural Emphasis
Both India Today and Hindustan Times highlighted the use of high-altitude ingredients such as sea buckthorn, apricot, yak cheese, barley, saffron, morels, lotus stem and wild nettle, linking the Himalayan cuisine to the Swiss Alps in the menu’s description.
Diplomatic Context
The banquet underscored cultural diplomacy, showcasing India’s northern mountain cuisines to Swiss officials during Parmelin’s first state visit to India. India Today reported that the visit followed Parmelin’s earlier participation in the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi in February 2026, marking his second trip to the country that year.